Bin Laden Ex-Driver Is Convicted

Military Tribunal
Acquits Hamdan
Of Greater Charge

By

Jess Bravin

Updated Aug. 7, 2008 12:01 a.m. ET

GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba -- A military commission convicted Osama bin Laden's former driver of supporting terrorism, the first verdict delivered here since President George W. Bush announced plans in November 2001 to try accused foreign terrorists in a separate system of offshore military courts.

A military jury convicts Osama bin Laden's former driver, Salim Hamdan, on charges of providing material support for terrorism, but acquitted him on charges of providing support for al Qaeda. Video courtesy of Reuters. (Aug. 6)

But the jury of six military officers acquitted Salim Hamdan of a more serious charge, conspiracy to commit al Qaeda terrorist attacks, rejecting government efforts to paint the barely literate orphan from the Yemeni outback as a significant member of Mr. bin Laden's inner circle. A sentencing hearing, which could bring a life term, began after the verdicts and will continue Thursday.

For prosecutors, the single-count conviction offered a measured victory in the administration's fraught effort to resurrect an abbreviated form of justice for the nation's enemies, the military commission, last used in World War II. Col. Lawrence Morris, the chief prosecutor, who also is assembling the high-stakes case against Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other accused organizers of the Sept. 11. 2001 terrorist attacks, said the trial had "validated" the military commission, "in its essence, as an extraordinarily fair, open and just process that produces a reliable result."

Others weren't so pleased. While the conviction was "important," the use of a system "widely regarded as unfairly tilted against defendants is likely to harden perceptions that Guantanamo exists to keep detainees beyond the full reach of the law," said Matthew Waxman, a Columbia Law School professor who was the Defense Department's first detainee-affairs chief under Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

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"The bigger problem for future cases is that the evidence in Hamdan's case is about as good as it gets," said a government official familiar with the matter. Unlike the vast majority of the 80 or so Guantanamo prisoners slated for trial, Mr. Hamdan "was incredibly cooperative in his interrogations, gave information that was able to be corroborated, was identified in videos serving as a bodyguard for bin Laden and was captured with two missiles in the trunk of his car," the official said.

"He was acquitted of the most serious charge, conspiracy, and he'll never face that charge again," said Michael Berrigan, the deputy chief defense counsel. The defense team "may not have hit a home run, but they at least hit a triple." Defense lawyers said they expected Mr. Hamdan to make a statement at his sentencing hearing Thursday.

With mandatory appeals to both a special military panel and the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, plus a potential Supreme Court petition, the case is far from over.

The sentencing hearing began with setbacks for the prosecution. The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, granted a defense motion to merge the five "specifications" of which Mr. Hamdan was convicted into a single action.

A prosecutor, Lt. Cmdr. Tim Stone, noted that even the single remaining specification, out of 10 with which the government originally charged Mr. Hamdan, carries up to a life term.

A military commissions advocate-turned-critic, former chief prosecutor Col. Morris Davis, scoffed at that prospect. If the former driver "gets a hefty sentence, it's got to send cold chills down the spines of [Mr. bin Laden's] barber and dry cleaner," Col. Davis said.

Although the military commission carries some structural resemblance to a court-martial, it is bound by a special rulebook that provides defendants with fewer rights than the Uniform Code of Military Justice, which has governed every U.S. military trial since 1951. Moreover, the 2006 law authorizing the commissions includes offenses that traditionally have not been considered war crimes, such as the two charges Mr. Hamdan faced, conspiracy and providing material support for terrorism.

Both presidential contenders have called for closing Guantanamo, which many officials acknowledge has become a blot on the nation's reputation abroad. But they differed on the trial system that was tested here.

"This process demonstrated that military commissions can effectively bring very dangerous terrorists to justice," said Republican John McCain, who helped craft the 2006 legislation authorizing the system. "The fact that the jury did not find Hamdan guilty of all of the charges brought against him demonstrates that the jury weighed the evidence carefully," the Arizona senator said.

Democrat Barack Obama, who opposed the commissions bill, said that the years-long struggle to build an offshore court to convict Mr. Hamdan of a single offense "underscores the dangerous flaws in the administration's legal framework. It's time to better protect the American people and our values by bringing swift and sure justice to terrorists through our courts and our Uniform Code of Military Justice."

Mr. Hamdan, 37 years old, bowed his head and wept softly after the verdict was read in the windowless courtroom, built inside an old aircraft control building.

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